Some 5 million young people in Malaysia are poised to shake up the nation’s politics, analysts say, noting that the newly enfranchised voting bloc will be instrumental in who wins the 15th general election, which could take place next year.

From next month on, these 18-21-year olds will be allowed to vote, as ill-equipped political parties scramble to pander to their issues, one political scientist observed.

“There is a new political space being opened up and all the political parties are pandering to the wishes of the 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds because they will represent a major voting bloc,” James Chin, an analyst with the University of Tasmania, told BenarNews.

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The year 2021 indeed has been a big one for youth enfranchisement in the Southeast Asian nation. It brought the implementation of a law lowering the voting age to 18 from 21, and the year-end registration of a youth party, MUDA, announced on Wednesday by its co-founder, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

“Muda” is a Malay word for “young” yet it was an uphill battle for the party of and for young people to become officially registered as it faced alleged political interference.

As the country begins a new year, the youth will take its political landscape “by storm,” said Nurul Ashikin Mabahwi, who heads the women’s wing of Pejuang, a political party.

And older established parties will find it a challenge to appeal to a younger electorate, according to Chin.

“This is where it gets interesting. If you were to ask most young people, overwhelmingly they will want the old faces in politics to retire,” Chin said.

Syed Saddiq, co-founder of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA), a youth party, waves outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court after he won a case against the home ministry, Dec. 14, 2021. [S. Mahfuz/BenarNews]

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